It is convenient for flexibility purposes to utilise a fuel regulator which is adapted to regulate any of a plurality of fuels, for example gasoline, fuel oil, diesel fuel, kerosene and the like which each have a different viscosity. In the past, orifices of different sizes have been used to pass each of the fuels in order to compensate therefore.
However, the viscosity of the fuel will also depend on the temperature of the fuel. As the temperature increases, the viscosity decreases with the result that the fuel will flow much more quickly and vice versa. The size of the orifice through which the particular fuel will pass, therefor, is an average value found by taking the viscosity of the particular fuel at a temperature which will ordinarily be most widely used when the burner is being used. If, however, the temperature changes such that the flow of the fuel also changes in a magnitude such that the burning of the fuel is affected, the orifice size would have to be changed to allow the proper quantity of fuel to pass under the particular temperature in order to realize the desired heating.
This is so since if the orifice size was not changed and if the temperature increased, it is possible for enough fuel to pass through the orifice such that the burner is flooded and shut down or which can create a fire hazard. If less fuel passes than necessary, the heat produced by the burner could be insufficient.
In another aspect of the invention, fuel vaporizers are known and generally utilize an uptube which allows the fuel to increase its temperature prior to vaporization. A downtube, commonly known as an "R-tube", is used to distribute the vaporized fuel on one side of the uptube.
The downtube on existing vaporizers, however, does not disperse the vapor evenly in the burner. The vaporized fuel emanating from the downtube creates uneven fuel flow with more vaporized fuel on one side of the uptube than on the other size. This results in uneven burning with flames higher on one side of the burner than the other. Therefore, the combustion is relatively inefficient.